Shards of Glass
by DarkSilverHawk
Summary: I never forgot the day they left. And I always hoped they would come back. LoM oneshot. Pearl's POV. Slight PxE


**A/N: This idea came to me the other day when I was playing the game: What would happen if you died while out adventuring? And what would the other characters think if you simply vanished? I often take Elazul as my NPC, so the thought of him vanishing along with you sparked this oneshot. I might do one for Elazul if Pearl vanished, too, based on Rubens' comment in the Bejeweled City if you talk to him with Pearl in your party.**

**Note: Sil is the name of my character. It's short for "Darksilver," see?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Mana, or the Jumi. I do own this story, though, so no stealing it!**

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**Shards of Glass**

I'll never forget the last day Sil came by to visit. We were glad to see her. We always were. She said she was going to set out for the Mana Tree, and try to fix whatever it was that was wrong with it. She wanted Elazul's help. This wasn't the first time she'd come by to take him out into the world, and Elazul loved an excuse to see the lands beyond. He never really broke himself of the wanderlust he developed after the years of running from the Jewel Hunter. And I was safe here in the Bejeweled City under the ever watchful eyes of Diana and Florina; there was no reason for him not to go.

I had never really worried about them any of the times they'd left before. Sil was there, after all. This was the one who saved the Jumi. Elazul even trusted her enough to let her take me out with her once.

I told him to be careful, and they set off. I watched them turn the corner, and then they were gone. They never even went to see Florina before they left. Sil almost always visited Florina to make sure she was still doing ok, and to see if there was any word from Alexandra.

I spent the next few days idly passing the time. I talked to Esmeralda sometimes. I played a game of hopscotch with some of the youngest Jumi; that even made Florina smile when she came out to watch. Sometimes I just stared at the stream that ran through the city, waiting for the minutes to pass.

It wasn't until a week had passed that I to worry. They weren't normally gone this long. Still, I kept waiting, expecting them to return at any second.

After three weeks, I was really worried. I jumped at every sound, hoping to see them coming around the corner. I begged everyone that left the city to keep an eye out for signs of them. They all agreed to, but no one had heard anything when they returned.

I eventually set out on my own and walked to Sil's house. Bud and Lisa hadn't heard anything either; they promised to send word if they heard anything from them.

By the time I returned, it had been more than a month since they'd vanished. The others tried to comfort me. They assured me that they would turn up soon. The almost-legendary savior of the Jumi wouldn't vanish without a reason. Diana and Florina gave me all sorts of pointless tasks to keep me busy, but the seconds dragged on longer and longer.

Minutes turned to hours, hours to days, days to years. Finally, almost a year had passed with no sign of them. Everyone else stopped looking. I could see the pity in Diana's eyes when I spent hours looking out over the lands beyond, waiting for a sign of them.

Some Jumi still left the city, but less and less went beyond its walls each day as travelers brought back tales of horrors from the lands beyond. Some of these tales had to do with Sil, but all mentions of her were from before she set out for the Mana Tree. They told of a world that was slowly being gripped by darkness. Some said that darkness came from the Mana Goddess herself. A handful of Jumi never returned from the lands beyond.

The Jumi kept themselves safe within the walls of the Bejeweled City, and eventually they stopped leaving it all together. I wanted to search for Elazul now that everyone else had given up, but I would not take a new knight, (though it was Esmeralda who offered to fill the position) and Diana would not let me leave the city alone. Besides, she said, Florina still had a few years before a new Clarius was chosen, and if the darkness was really spreading like everyone said it was, they might need Blackpearl one day.

Those few years were the hardest of all. Our only contact with the outside world was what we could see from the city walls. I still waited for them to come back, but no word of them came. Diana urged me to move on and forget about them, but I ignored her and kept waiting.

The years stretched into decades within the walls of the city. A new Clarius was chosen, an amethyst named Alice. The effect of the lifted burden on Florina was obvious, but I could not see it. I was still waiting for my knight to return, and kept my eyes on the horizon.

After a while, I finally convinced Diana to let me leave, with Rubens accompanying me as a favor to her. No one in Domina had heard from her in years, and many no longer remembered her. Inspector Boyd hadn't completely given up on catching Sandra, though he was far past the point of retirement. He hadn't heard from any Jumi in years, however.

Her house had been abandoned for years when we got there. Lisa and Bud had grown up long before that, leaving the house to purse their own dreams. The mailbox was overstuffed with letters from others who missed her, apparently, but none gave any hints as to where she was now. I returned to the Bejeweled City, disheartened and devoid of any clues, to wait once again.

This dragged on even longer, until almost a century had passed. Florina gently reminded me that Sil would have died from old age by now, if she had still been alive. She even arranged for a small shrine to be built, honoring the lost savior of the Jumi. I still waited for Elazul to come back.

Slowly, Jumi began to leave the city again. We were still cautious, avoiding anything that might cause people to start hunting us again. I was always one of the first ones there whenever someone came back, only to be met with a look of pity and a slow shake of the head.

The years continued to drag on. Esmeralda became the knight of a cheerful sapphire named Stephen. Much of the damage done to Florina from her time as Clarius was fading away. Under the guidance of Alice and Diana, the Jumi were experiencing a golden age. I still kept waiting for Elazul to return, believing that he would come back any day now.

Finally, after more than two hundred years, Esmeralda and Stephen returned from a long journey with news of Elazul. They told Diana, Florina and I of how they had come to the foot of a great tree. While they were afraid to climb the giant tree, they had walked around its base, and found the shards of a Jumi core.

I began crying even before they pulled it out and I saw that it was Lapis Lazuli. I held the core and wept, but it was far too late. The scratched and cracked shards made it clear that no amount of tears could bring him back. I could only wonder what kind of great beast had been able to bring down the savior of the Jumi and the Lapis Knight. Elazul. My Elazul.

I refused to take another knight. I sat around for hours, trying to remember every moment I'd ever spent with him. I cried for him. I wished I had been there all those years ago to cry for him. Maybe it would have saved him. Everyone worried about me, but I ignored them. I kept weeping day after day, wishing something would change he'd come back to me. That maybe the shards had been of someone else's core. But the more I cried, the clearer one thing became.

Even a Jumi's tears can't bring back the dead.


End file.
